Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

:~e; ~:h:C:-::;: ~r:an~ A we lcomed back t he Three wins Nat ional Arenacross Series .to ts dow nto wn Rockford faCIlity, and Kawasaki's Dar cy Lange wasted littl e time getting back up to speed. Afte r some inconsi stent rides as o f late , the Canadian put together two solid-as-a-rock nights o f racing, winning three out of the four Pro - class main events. not to mention putting up a couple of wins in the Dash For Cash . Despit e the strong showing in Rockfo rd , Lange still trails series leader and defending champ Josh De muth by 14 points. Even though most of the riders descri bed the Rockford track as being good , the challenging layout did claim several riders in the early heats and sem is. Most notable was Fun Center Suzuki's Jeff Willoh, wh o we nt dow n near the en d of the w hoops sect ion and bro ke five bones in his right foo t, quite possibly putt ing him out for the rest of the season. "Jeff bob bled a little towards the end of the w hoops , and another ride r hit him pretty hard and broke his foot ; it looks pretty bad," Willoh's team manager Chuc k Kehoe said. The big surprise of the eve ning was the appearance of Phil Lawrence, who turned in some respecta ble lap times during practice. Lawrence, who was pitting out of the Shogun Yamaha pit area, was amo ng the top- 10 fastest ride rs, but all wou ld not go so we ll fo r "Facto ry Phil." " I was just going to co me watch this event, and then I bought Tommy Hofmaste r's practice bike and decided to come race here. " 66 the vete ran racer, move the Canadian r I d er closer to Lawrence, said. "Th ings have gone hor rible so far." Lawrence failed to qualify fo r Friday night's main event, and when he was asked if he would make a guest appearance at any other events this season, Lawrence said, "No , this was it. I have some really good business opportunities right now, and I have to concentrate on that : ' FRIDAY A first-turn pile up in the 125cc main got things off to a roc ky start. Among those going down were Demuth and Tommy Hofmaster, who bot h remounted around midpack. "Eve ryone came into that first corner at once, and it was just a the front huge pile up," De muth said. " I didn't really go down, but I had to get off the bike a bit, and someone's bike fli pped up and hit me in the back. It's getting pretty cut-throat out there, but I'm still having a lot of fun." The be nefacto r of the first-turn park ing lot was Richmond Kawasaki's Jeff Northrop, who got off to an early lead. "I was on the inside of the first tum, and I could fee l the pileup pushing on the backside of my bike , but I just pow ered out of it and into the lead," Northrop said. Northrop's lead , however, wo uldn't last (Above) Josh Demuth (1 ), Tommy HoHma ster (2) and Darcy Lange (4) were some of the top stars 01 the Rockford National Arenacross in Illinois. Lange came away w ith three wins and Dem uth one. (Right) The Metrocentre Ar ena was packed both nights. JANUARY lA , 200.1 • CYCLE NEWS forev er, no thanks to Lange, who quickly closed the gap on Northrop and eventually passed him . And North rop 's pro blems we ren't over yet, as Demuth worked his way up through the pack after his first-turn problems. Demuth got around such riders as Justin Brayton, Jimmy Wilson and Buddy Antunez before he was ab le to attack Northrop. De muth eventually got by Northrop but had no chance of giving Lange, who had long since checked o ut , a fight for the lead. No rth rop held on to finish third, tho ugh. "I felt goo d, but 1 started getting some arm pump ," Northrop said . " I didn't even hear Josh com ing, and he got by me . O h well, I got third, and I'm happy to be on the podium ." Thing went much better for Demuth in the 250cc main late r that night. Demuth nailed his first holeshot of the year and made the best of it . He went on to take the win, o but he could never relax and kick back. At first, Hoffmaster stayed close but wou ld eve ntually go down when he and third-placed Lange tangled. "I kind of hit him, and he we nt dow n in the co rne r," Lange said of Hoffmaste r's crash. "It wasn't intentional or anything." Lange suddenly found himself in second and started reeling in De muth, and it appeared there was going to be a shootout for the win, but Lange eventually backed off a bit befo re it got too close, so Demuth got away. Nort hrop, meanwhile, watched from a distant third. "W he n I got into Tommy, I be nt my back brake pedal arou nd my footpeg, and so I had no back brake out the re ," Lange said. Brayton fini shed out the race in fourth, w hile John Dowd e nde d up fifth. 40th Anniversary

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